3 Killer Problems for Credit Unions in Social Media

by: Michael Ogden, Media Relations Manager for New Media, CUNA Mutual Group

Have you noticed your credit union Facebook page has peaked? Your Twitter page isn’t attracting any new followers (except spammers)? Or, is your Pinterest page DOA?

Creating a successful social media campaign and platform is a lot of work and often your vision doesn’t pan out because of a few silly mistakes. These are the three most common missteps that can kill your social media site.

Profile not filled out – Anytime you start a social media project, the absolute number-one item to do is fill out your profile as completely as possible. Leaving a profile blank or partially filled out will result in you and your credit union not properly showing up in searches. What does this mean? PEOPLE CANNOT FIND YOU! Make sure you’re using the proper keywords in your profile as well (you can do some Google Analytics to help with that). Check all of the URLs/links in your profile to make sure they’re not broken. Your profile is the key to everything. Set up properly, things should start falling into place.

Accounts are locked – This one infuriates me! What makes you think this is anywhere near a good idea? You are on social media to connect to people – not lock them out! No one can follow you without submitting your connection for your approval. Would you deal with a company that made you jump though hoops like that? I only follow one locked account (and that’s for work and she’s very nice). And believe me, there is no bigger turn-off for potential new followers to see a locked account. If you’re locking your account then do everyone a favor and delete the account.

Updates about nothing – Your core message is about the “credit union industry” and promoting the good things happening. But most of your posts and updates are about you and your sock puppet collection. Adding personality to your stream is a good thing. But too much personality and odd posts can dilute your purpose of being there and confuses your audience. For instance, I tweet roughly 35 times each day on @CUDiscovery.  And of those, I include about five off-topic (fun) and personality-infused tweets. The same goes for Google :  of the five or six posts each day, one is a little off-topic and fun. Show your personality, but don’t let it overpower your true message and goals.

BONUS SOCIAL MEDIA KILLER:
Your audience just isn’t there – Let’s face it, it’s hard to hear but sometimes it just doesn’t work out. “It’s not you, it’s me.” Or, “I’m just not that into you.” Hopefully, this won’t happen to you. But, if you’ve done the items listed above and your traffic numbers are still dead and the conversations have stopped – you may want to come up with an exit strategy and pull the plug. What this really means is your audience isn’t where you thought they were and it’s time to move on. Researching your audience doesn’t happen enough and it is so important to get this part right. Once you find your audience, take care of them and appreciate what they bring to your business.

Epilogue:
I think the credit union industry does a great job sharing the work we’re doing for the cause. The problem is, for the most part, we’re sharing that information with each other. I think it’s time to turn around from this internal/industry cheerleading and face the greater public at large with these messages. They are ready to hear it. So go out there and be bold! Be big and be proud of what you do! There is an audience out there waiting for your words and your help.